Over on Instagram, Steve asked, "Why does (The C64 I was given for Christmas) have weird light coloured keys?"

'Aldi' C64

The short answer is that it's a limited edition model.

The long answer involves 12 years of Product Marketing & manufacturing changes made over the course of the C64's lifetime.

1982

Back at the launch of the Commodore 64 in 1982, Commodore had already been selling the lower-spec VIC-20 for a couple of years, so they already had factories tooled up to produce cases & keyboards for that.

Late model VIC 20

The cheapest way to build a C64 was to re-use as many of those parts as possible.

So, they took the existing 'breadbox' case, changed the holes on the back & tweaked the colour and texture slightly (the VIC 20 is close to white, the C64 beige/grey) but otherwise left it alone. The first versions of the C64 literally used the VIC 20 keyboard, with the orange function keys. This is the model shown on the box of most European C64s sold:

C64, Orange FN Keys

Shortly after launch Commodore switched to using grey function keys on the C64, to differentiate it from the VIC-20 since they were still being sold side-by-side in shops at the time.

The vast majority of the 13,000,000+ Commodore 64s looked like this: Grey case, grey function keys. That's the model that most people will remember.

C64, grey FN keys

1985

In 1985 Commodore launched the C128, a significant upgrade to the C64 and with a much more "businesslike" design. While it wasn't a commercial success, it did lend its appearance to most computers that followed.

1987

The 80s were a period of rapid development in the home computer market. Commodore launched the far more advanced, 16-bit Amiga 500 and that was the model they really wanted to sell the home computer buyer at that time. The A500 was clearly inspired by the physical design of the C128; another white wedge. The beighe, breadbox shaped C64 was starting to look a little old sat next to its two newer cousins. However, it was still selling well. So rather than kill it off, Commodore refreshed the design slightly & marketed it at a lower price point, for those who couldn't afford the C128 or the A500.

This then, is the C64C or C64-II. It's functionally identical to every other C64 ever made, but the new case design & matching keys made it look it at least belonged in Commodore's current lineup

C64C or C64-II

Ever under pressure to cut development costs, the keyboard changed *again* to move all of the symbols from the front of the keys, onto the keytops, as shown in the image above. The early C64C units had white keys, but still had the symbols on the front. This 'everything on top, white keys' is the style that continued to the end of production in 1993.

Now, the problem with all of these changes is that Commodore were producing hudreds of thousands of units each year across multiple factories in various territories. It takes time to ramp down production of one model, change a design, ramp up production again. And by the time Commodore had put a new model on the market, there'd be a backlog of now obsolete hardware: Brown keys, breadbox cases, 'old style' white keys, none of it matched the current official model spec.

In a smart move, rather than consign those parts to the scrap heap, Commodore offered high volume quantities of low-cost 'parts bin' C64 bundles to low-cost supermarkets, most notably German supermarket ALDI. These machines used the new C64C motherboards, but in an original grey breadbox case and with one of the early C64C keyboards, all assembled in the USA. It's a fully functional Commodore 64 made up effectively of new-but-scrap parts, and effectively provides another parallel market for customers who wanted an even cheaper C64, as well as solving Commodore's surplus problem.

C64 'Aldi'

1988-1993

Eventually Commodore ran out of beige Breadboxes, but I expect they liked the idea of keeping the parallel market, particularly in Germany where they'd sold very well. So they continued to build other 'parts-bin' models which sometimes look identical to the 1987 Aldi, sometimes not (Various motherboards, keyboards). This one's built in West Germany and looks pretty much identical to the real one above, apart from the fact that it has a foil 'C64' label.

'Fake Aldi'

And finally, they launched the C64G: A white breadbox with C64C keyboard and a green power LED, for the German market only. It's not clear to me if this was just sold in this configuration as a final parts-bin model, or just because it's a format that proved popular in Germany...

C64G

]]>http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2017/12/29/c64-timeline/feed/0192Blender 3D BTTF Diner/Cafehttp://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2017/04/18/blender-3d-bttf-dinercafe/
http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2017/04/18/blender-3d-bttf-dinercafe/#respondTue, 18 Apr 2017 22:43:43 +0000http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/?p=162I’ve been playing with Blender again recently – I wanted to recreate the cafe/diner from Back to the Future seen here:

Here’s a burn-in test playing a 13GB media file from the HDD for a coupe of hours:

RPi CPU Temperature during media playback from HDD
]]>http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/03/16/pi-media-box-v2/feed/0132Raspberry Pi HDD Case (prototype 1)http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/03/13/raspberry-pi-hdd-case-prototype-1/
http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/03/13/raspberry-pi-hdd-case-prototype-1/#respondSun, 13 Mar 2016 08:52:21 +0000http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/?p=125This is the first print of an easy-to-use case to hold both a Raspberry Pi 2/3 alongside a slot-in 2.5″ hard disk, following a request from someone who bought one of the Raspberry Pi Rack cases on eBay.

I’m using a USB to SATA adaptor to power & connect the drive.

First print of the case frameUnderside, showing the slotted in HDD.

Once I’ve finalised the size I’ll work on cover panels…

]]>http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/03/13/raspberry-pi-hdd-case-prototype-1/feed/0125Pi-Rack v3, no fanshttp://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/03/01/pi-rack-v3-no-fans/
http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/03/01/pi-rack-v3-no-fans/#respondTue, 01 Mar 2016 18:56:28 +0000http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/?p=116Update: I now have a few of these for sale, here!

I’ve reduced the size of the Pi rack as far as realistcally possible now & I’m trying it without cooling fans again.

Front

The vent section is removable for easier access to the Raspberry Pi boards inside…

It’s difficult to give a totally objective set of images, but hopefully these comparisons are useful. In the first image, you can see the three capsules beside the keyrings. In normal light they just appear white.

Tritium Capsules

Switch the lights off, and you can see the phosphor glow. They’re available in various colours, these are ‘Ice Blue’.

Tritium Capsules – Glowing

So, here I’ve put all three capsules into the key fob with the blue tag. The large LED light is what I’ll use to charge up the glow-in-the-dark plastic.

Keyring with capsules inserted

Charging them up. Note this is only charging the plastic, the capsules don’t need charging and will glow continuously for around 10 years.

Charging up the plastic

And lights off!

Immediately after switching off the lights.

Although they’re both glowing pretty brightly as soon as you remove the lights, you can still see the Tritium capsules glowing through the plastic (above).

Around 10 seconds in.

10 seconds later, the green glow falls off pretty quickly (above)

30 Seconds in

30 seconds in and the green glow is starting to fade, while the capsules continue to glow…

About a minute in

After about a minute, the plastic glow is hard to see now unless the room is totally dark, but of course no difference to the Tritium one.

About 2 minutes

Even when the plastic has all-but stopped glowing, the Tritium keyring looks the same. As it will for about 10 years… Sort of. The Tritium in the capsules has a half life of 12 years, which means that every 12 years, half of the Tritium will have converted into helium & will be half as effective at making the phosphors glow. But compared to the glow-in-the-dark plastic, it’s basically continous light.

]]>http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/02/18/glowing-tritium-capsules/feed/088Raspberry Pi Rack (Work in progress)http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/02/18/raspberry-pi-rack-work-in-progress/
http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/02/18/raspberry-pi-rack-work-in-progress/#respondThu, 18 Feb 2016 20:42:42 +0000http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/?p=72I normally use these 3D printed sleeves from Thingiverse for the newer Raspberry Pi models (B+ and 2 B). I have versions printed in all kinds of materials, but this one here is in temperature sensitive plastic, meaning the hot parts change from blue to white as the Pi warms up…
Raspberry Pi Sleeve (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:604915)

But, now I have a couple of Pi boards which are basically running all the time, with plans for one or two more. I wanted a neat rack for them and while there are a few already on Thingiverse, there are none that I particularly like.

I also wanted to add a cooling fan. Preferably a large, slow and quiet one.

So, I designed the basic parts for a new rack in Blender, borrowed a fan grille design and printed this prototype. It’s definitely still a prototype, with a lot more separate parts than necessary: I like to be ale to physically move the bits around before deciding on the final layout.

The Raspberry Pi boards slide & clip into the rack in exactly the same way that the individual sleeves work.

Raspberry Pi Rack Cube (rear)

It’s difficult to tell from the shot above but the idea is that the rack is cube shaped, with the overall size determined by the 120mm fan on the side. The large fan means I can run it at 5V and it’s basically silent. It’s easier to see the cube shape from the corner:

Raspberry Pi Rack Cube (Front/Side)

I will probably change the fan grille & have the same design on the opposide side, but I might have different panels for the front & top.

The only other thing to mention is that you can also see here that I’m powering everything other than the switch (for now) from a single 6-port USB charger, which again is just neater & more reliable than a pile of seperate micro USB wall sockets.

Once I’m basically happy with it all, it’ll be back to Blender to finalise the layout & design in clips to hold everything in place.

Case in Blender 3D

One thing I’m not yet happy with is the side i haven’t shown, where the micro USB cables plug into the Pi boards. In order to fit neatly into the case I’m going to need a set of right-angle power connectors. They’re on order, so watch this space…

]]>http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/02/18/raspberry-pi-rack-work-in-progress/feed/072Nuka-cola keyringshttp://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/02/03/nuka-cola-keyrings/
http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/index.php/2016/02/03/nuka-cola-keyrings/#respondWed, 03 Feb 2016 18:57:52 +0000http://pyramidhead.gotdns.com/?p=47I’ve made myself a Nuka Cola keyring based on those seen in Fallout 4 and they’ve been surprisingly popular, so I now have a few on my Etsy store…